Bushbranch/Surfdog
The first question one might ask upon discovering Eric Clapton has released a heartfelt J.J. Cale tribute one year after Cale’s passing July 26, 2013, would be: How closely did the Oklahoman’s No. 1 disciple hew to that remarkably nonchalant, front-porch sound?
Yep Roc
Three decades after their last full album together (the Blasters’ 1985 “Hard Line”), the Alvin brothers are making beautiful “American Music” together again, thanks to a near-death experience and the “entrance drug into prewar blues.”
Blue Hat
For anyone who’s lost touch with Charlie Daniels over the past few decades, now’s a good time to check him out again.
UMe
After Leon Russell’s successful 2010 duet album with Elton John (“The Union”), big labels were suddenly knocking again on the Oklahoma-born singer/songwriter/pianist’s door. But they wanted him to do something he’d never done: use a producer.
TRC
Good New Music doesn’t review EPs unless the circumstances are extenuating — say, for instance, when an occasional blues-rock band comes along that makes the listener prick up his or her ears. Such is the case with the Record Company, an independent Los Angeles-based trio whose output now consists of three extended-play albums and a few stray singles.
